Evan Bouchard scored in overtime and had an assist in regulation as the Edmonton Oilers earned a key 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (36-22-4) who had lost six of their previous seven games. Corey Perry also scored and Connor McDavid had a pair of assists.
Cole Caulfield and Joel Armia responded as the Canadiens (30-26-6) had their five-game winning streak snapped. Montreal remains one point out of the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Stuart Skinner made 26 saves to collect the win in net for the Oilers, while Sam Montembeault stopped 29 shots for the Canadiens.
TAKEAWAYS
Canadiens: Caufield became the 10th player in Montreal franchise history to record three four-game goal streaks in a single season and the first to do so since Guy Lafleur. The Hall of Famer did it five times in 1977-78.
Oilers: Draisaitl notched his league-leading 46th goal of the season and extended his point streak to 13 games. Draisaitl has 10 goals in his last 10 games and moved into sole possession of fourth in goal-scoring in Oilers history, ahead of Mark Messier.
KEY MOMENT
After a scoreless third period, Edmonton put the game away with just 6.9 seconds remaining in overtime as McDavid circled the zone before sending a saucer pass to a hard-charging Bouchard, who beat Montembeault for his 11th goal of the season.
KEY STAT
There have been some interesting similarities between Edmonton’s Draisaitl and Montreal’s Caufield as they are the only players in the NHL with over 20 even-strength goals and more than 10 power-play goals — as well as being the only players to have 20 or more road goals this season. Caufield has scored 16.7 per cent of the Habs’ goals this year, while Draisaitl came into the contest leading the league in that category with 22.8 per cent of Edmonton’s goals. They are also the only two players in the league to have three four-game scoring streaks, the Oilers forward having done it four ties this year.
KEY STAT 2
Montreal’s Nick Suzuki came into the contest on a tremendous roll with 13 points in his previous five games. Edmonton as a team only had 12 goals in their previous five games.
TRADE TIME
Reports were swirling before the game that the Oilers had acquired defenceman Jake Walman from the San Jose Sharks, only awaiting a post-game roster move to make it official.
UP NEXT
Canadiens: Play the second game of a four-game trip on Saturday in Calgary against the Flames.
Oilers: Remain at home to face the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
